FusionFall – 5 Out Of 5, and A Raving Review Too
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Jefferey Hargrove, the newest member of The MMO Gamer’s writing team has reviewed FusionFall, Cartoon Network’s MMOG which just launched! With the help of his nephew, Jefferey takes a look this webbased MMOG.
This week I had a glimpse of the future, it was covered in green slime and filled with bad guys! Dexter was there, Ben 10, and The Kids Next Door. As a matter of fact it was filled with Cartoon Network characters. No this is not some sugar induced dream coma, after watching to many cartoons and downing what was left of my holiday candy. That had nothing to do with it, I swear! This was Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall , a new MMO for kids and tweens.
Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall, was a blast to play, for me and my nephew who seems to think my computer is his new toy. It has a engaging storyline, easy to follow for young players, but still creative enough to hold my interest. The in-depth tutorial covers all the basics of movement, combat, and the user interface, while introducing the player to the situation. Fuse, a bad guy who uses fusion matter (green slime) to take over worlds, has come after earth and you must help stop him.
As a avid gamer I had some preconceived notions of what children’s MMO games where like, none of them very positive. But after playing this game to review it, I must admit this game far exceeded my expectations on many levels.
“It looks a lot like the cartoons”
To assist me with this review I drafted my young nephew who had some simple words of his own to say about the game. That was what he had to say when I asked him how it looked, short and sweet answer. There is more to it than that, though. One of the preconceived notions I had about the game was that a browser-based MMO couldn’t possibly have good graphics. That was quickly put to rest when I first saw the game world. Colors are bold, bright, and engaging. Graphically to put it into perspective I felt like I was playing an Xbox 360, or PS3 game with my HDTV. It just doesn’t have the dynamic fog effects, or the super ground textures of some more recent games, and the sky is static on the parts of the world I viewed.
Avatars, and creatures in the game are drawn comic book style, black outlines silhouette the characters. This was a good artistic choice, it meshes well with the animation style of cartoon network characters, and lends a comic book hero feel to the game. The actual game world looks more real than the cartoons themselves, not hard to do when you’re dealing with animation, but worth pointing out. View distance is amazing, weapon and ability effects are superb. Bottom line, if you like the visuals of Cartoon Network, you will be very happy with Fusion Fall’s graphics.
“I don’t need your help!”
Don’t expect to be asked a thousand questions, or begged for help with FusionFall. I found that out pretty quickly. After the initial thirty minutes my nephew spent creating his character I left him alone to play. Coming back, after many minutes I started asking him about the game, or rather telling him what he should do and how to do it. I was quickly put in my place. He had a good grasp of the game already, and even started explaining to me things I missed.
One of the first gameplay elements you will encounter in FusionFall is the immense character creation system. It has one of the most engaging and customizable avatar creations of any MMO to date. Moving from there you enter the game world. A short tutorial quickly gets players engaged, while teaching them all the basics of movement and combat. The UI is easily read with very little clutter. If you need help with something the game guide is a wealth of information including screen shots, walkthroughs, and explanations of many of the key features. It was the easiest to use and understand guide I have seen in an MMO to date.
After you learn the basics, you start into the action. The game features a wide variety of engaging quests. The combat is easy at first point and shoot, however later it becomes necessary to use your “nanos” (micro versions of cartoon network characters you collect) to beat harder monsters. The nano system is a very creative way of introducing more abilities as you advance. My nephew kept referring to them as Pokemon, I think that is a good way to describe them. Jumping is a major game element in Fusion Fall, many quests and mini games are based on jumping through puzzle type environments. Jumping is one of the main things players do in MMO games, at least here it serves a purpose.
There are several forms of travel in fusion fall, walking, jump pads, zip lines, teleports, flying monkeys, and shuttles. Fall damage does not exist, but the ground in many places is covered in deadly green snot, so some caution is advised when your jumping or running around. I think that the many travel options, make the game much more engaging.
Eventually though you will die. When you die you go back to a rez station in the zone you died in. There did not appear to be any significant penalty for dying, other than having to run back if you were doing a quest. I think this is important in a children’s game, as a death penalty could take away from the fun.
“Nooooooo Waagh waagh!”
I believe Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall, overall is a great game. Very appealing visually, though a little extra attention to ground, and sky would have gone a long way. The game is a not very complex, but it was able to keep me entertained for several short monster bashing sessions. My nephew however couldn’t get enough, tantrum ensued when I made him get off my laptop. My nephew gives it a raving review if I ever saw one.
I give FusionFall 5 of 5 because of the engaging game play, great use artistic design in character models, and amazing story line. The game releases today Jan 14th, there is a monthly fee to play of $5.95 a month. The game also sports a free play area called the Future Zone. For more information or to get into the game head on over to Cartoon Network’s official site, or check out FusionFall now.
Review Score: 5 / 5.
Fusion Fall – 5 Out Of 5, and A Raving Review Too http://tinyurl.com/9aderv
[...] we recently reviewed this game, we also wanted to let you know about their latest announcement. Cartoon network is [...]
Yay! WTG, New Media!
YO YA LO GANE PERDEDORES
vaginas lol i luv this game i hope they add player vs player combat and they were bad for making u have to pay just to play the game fully they should have left it free they need to take that off
if anyone wants to be my friend on there im a level 7 and my name rex raptor and my level is 7 see u there
[...] FusionFall – 5 Out Of 5, and A Raving Review Too Fusion Fall : Fusion Fall Launches [sic] Inside FusionFall, Cartoon Network’s New Kid-Friendly MMO [...]
Iy think fusinfall game is sooooooooooooooooo god
The fact you rated this 5/5 makes me seriously question your integrity. I get it, this is your first review being a new staff member, but seriously, this launch is as buggy as Anarchy Online’s launch was!
The blending of an MMO, an FPS and a platformer is like blending cheese, chocolate and butternut squash. They’re all wonderful separately but the do not work at all well when combined together.
In an effort to appease your boss (or due to the payoff from CN) you have put into question the validity of any future reviews that you write.
While I think Ellen was a bit severe in how she put it, I do agree with some of the things she said. I was in beta, and it was (and is) a good game for what it is. And that’s a browser-based kids game. Character creation was fun, but I think you were a bit overenthusiastic by saying it, “the most engaging and customizable avatar creations of any MMO to date”. A couple of faces, hair styles, skin colors, and clothes does not amount to such a claim. Other than that, I think the thing you missed in your review was perspective. A lot of people will take offense to the score you gave, but it could be cleared up quite easily if you’d simply point out that the score is based on the games target audience – children. Sure a 24 year old hardcore player wouldn’t give this a 5 out of 5, but I’m confident that 10 or 11 year old who’s parents are sane enough not to buy them WoW would give it such a score. Good luck on your future articles.
Hi Ellen, I did not experience any problems with the game when I tested it, I used latest Firefox and Explorer browsers. My boss strongly encourages critical reviews, however I had to say what I was true.
I think fps/mmo blend is subjective. I do not see this as a MMO fps game.
In closing, I gave it a score it deserved. It is the best children’s MMO so far. I can say that feeling confident. If you know of any children’s MMO that competes with FusionFall remotely let me know.
RT @spotanime CN’s FusionFall MMORPG sounds great for kids, cheap monthly fee (<$6). Saw it at Target for $20… http://is.gd/gx3A
I’m sorry, but when I read this review and saw the 5/5 score, I, too wondered if Jeffery played the same game I did.
If you’re going to rate a game on a scale, you should publish the criteria for scoring on that scale. Some of the criteria may be subjective (“fun” factor), but most others should be objective (sound quality, community, graphics technology and style, etc…. Since I can’t find any standard criteria on this website, the scale is highly suspect. In general, 5/5 implies that a game is flawless and/or “great”. Fusion Fall is neither, IMO
In general, I think Fusion Fall is an ok title. It certainly has a promising IP and it’s revenue model is incredibly aggressive, especially compared to other kid’s games like ToonTown, Pirates of the Caribbean Online and Wizard101. That being said, I do have some issues with Fusion Fall:
* Combat – the combat is overly simplistic. It’s basically “hold down the button until either you or the enemy die”. There’s no way to avoid an enemies default attack, either. Strafing makes you lose your target, which means you miss, but the enemy still hits you. So, even though the game has a FPS-style mouse system, using it in combat is at best, worthless, at worst detrimental. Also, you can’t use “it’s a kids game” as an excuse for the combat. My 9 year old son turned off Fusion Fall, so he could go play Ben 10 (a Cartoon Network arcade action-style title with more complex combat) on our PS2.
* FPS style camera/mouse control – seriously, my kids HATE this. My oldest daughter (18) was ready to give up on the game in about 10 minutes (she plays Unreal Tournament with me during LAN parties and is also experienced with MMOs like City of Heroes). I’d love an option to turn this feature off and stick solely to WASD with button controlled mouselook. On top of that, because the mouse is tied to the camera, one can’t simply click icons on the screen. Instead, you have to hit the enter key to toggle out of mouse control and bring up the UI. It’s irritating, to say the least, especially when you have the helper
* Jumping – while I like the addition of the platform games element, the jump controls need to be tightened up quite a bit. They feel very sloppy and your character is very “floaty”. Examples are when you’re at the very base of a large step, you jump and your character almost overshoots the far edge of the step you’re simply trying to leap up to. Another example is that you can move forwards and backwards while jumping, essentially “floating” into place.
* Performance – Fusion Fall is marketed as a browser-based game. While it’s true that the game runs in a browser window, “browser-based” implies that the content is streamed from a web server to the browser. The reality is that I have over 500MB of Fusion Fall files on my PC, which makes it more of a client/server game, where the browser is the game client application instead of a local executable. As such, I’d expect the game to perform a little better than it does, especially since the graphics aren’t that bleeding edge. Regardless, performance needs to be tweaked. I get quite a bit of stuttering, whereas I don’t with other games.
* Graphics – the game does use some decent graphics technology (character shading, bloom, particle density and basic shadows), but games like City of Heroes and the more recent Runes of Magic have much better technology and look and perform better than Fusion Fall does at it’s highest settings on the same machine. The graphics style in Fusion Fall is definitely appropriate for the IP and for a kids game, but the world just doesn’t seem as lush as it should. Most of the graphics fun seems to have been reserved for the characters and a few objects in the world (benches, signs, etc…). The sky, at least in the Future Zone, is terrible looking, even on the highest settings, and the terrain doesn’t look that great. The grids/plugs of grass are especially bad looking. I’d rather see a nicer terrain with no grass than what’s present in Fusion Fall.
* Running – lots and lots of running around. Yes, there are alternate forms of transportation, but you need to unlock them after running all around. It’s a little boring, which isn’t necessarily what you’re looking for in a kids game.
* Fun – I like the IP, the general concept and I especially like the platform jumping as a game element, but overall I thought the game was just “ok”, based on my points above.
Granted, I’m a 38 year old experienced MMO gamer, so am I expecting too much from this kids title? I don’t think so. I play Wizard101 with my entire family. We LOVE it! It’s the only game EVER that all five of us have gotten into. My 9 year old son, 12 year old daughter, 18 year old daughter, me and my 39 year old wife all enjoy it and play it regularly. I do have some minor issues with it, but most of my concerns relate to feature suggestions for older, more experienced gamers, as opposed to issues with it’s current mechanics.
Now, for the really important part of this review, what did my family think about Fusion Fall? Here are the overal average one line reviews from the four of us that have tried it:
Me – Male, 38, veteran gamer : Meh – show’s promise, but needs tweaking
Daughter – 18, experienced gamer: Meh – really disliked the FPS style mouselook controls – found them distracting. Thought the game was “ok” once she got into it.
Daughter – 12, played some games, but not a gamer: Thought it was “weird”, didn’t really care for it
Son – 9, played some games, turning into a gamer: Likes it “ok” – Likes it the best of all of us, so far.
None of those are very glowing recommendations, I’m afraid. I do think it’ll be hugely successful, based on their IP, pricing model and deep pockets advertising (we’ve seen trailers on TV and at the movies). I also think it’ll improve over time, hopefully in the near future. Lastly, I think the other kids titles are going to have to take a hard look at their own revenue models in order to compete with Fusion Fall.
i ahte that game i was 12 years old but subscriber no no no no no no way i ecept this game it was the best but no more i quit why do you whant subscriber eney way turner why becouse i have to save 66 $ for my bank account i have to no more subscriber.
Thanks for all your comments. I do believe a variety of opinions is best. Keep them coming.
. I will keep reader feedback in mind for future reviews.
seriously 5 out of 5 ROFL ! mabey they had access to a different server than the rest of us ,lol
i played durring the last beta and was a idiot and paid for a sub for my daughter we played together for a few weeks for a hour or 2 a night then i would play a bit with a few buddies well durring the last beta there were tons of errors crashes/network closes and other junk after the beta ended and we were all paying it was still as bad ( here is a example of a typical 4 hrs play at lvl 12-16 you get a min of 6 network closes usualy when you are in mid race or mission you will also get mystery closes where the window just closes on its own) so in that 4 hrs you will spend well over 45 min loggingg in and out .. tplus there is a severe lag problem where the game hangs up for seconds to min depending on luckhen you spend way too much time getting from one place to another you find your self on missions that are like go to a location few min to get there then the next part is go back where u were and this happens typicly 2-4 times per mission .. infact i find my daughter drifting her attention to anything else durring the travle times they get that boring
also once you reach over lvl 12 missions get harder to find and the only way to find the next one is to travle to EVERY place in the world hoping you will find the one mision you are hoping to find it gets annoying fast! if you reach lvl 18 oops there are only 5 missions that give you at best 20k fusion matter(you need 65k to get the next lvl) and it gets worse
oh and there is a Forced time limit you can play for if you play say over 3-4 hrs straight you only get 50% of your rewards and less if you play longer so you get to pay to play but they tell you how long you can play and there is no option for the folks paying to set it as they want not even a on / off switch
overall dont waste your money i have played “private servers”that crash less lol just look at their fourm pages under bugs i think its abot 20 pages of topics well over 200 threads in 10 days come on 5out of 5 somehow the guys on the game fourms dont seem that happy i will say the art/ graphics is nice ( not the best but pretty good) so i would give it at best 2 stars out of 5 thats 1 for the idea and 1 for potential but -500 for the fact that it was released to P2P way before it should have been
I’m going to have to agree with this review,
I don’t have time to point out every single aspect of the game and tell you the quality of it or the “fun factor” it has. The reason i do agree with this review is that this game is fun, safe for kids, and also has pretty good graphics. It’s the perfect game that parents who are worried for their kids safety online should allow their child to play.
This game is for children who watch cartoon network, and they will love it seeing the characters that they’ve always watched on the TV playing with them in a game.
I played this game, and my little cousins have played it, and my 8 year old cousin especially loves it. We all did not experience any glitches while playing w/ Firefox on Vista SP1
I fully agree with the rating this game has received.
its freckin awsome i got on top sector v treehouse (KND treehouse) its awsome try it.
I think fusion fall is the best game ever, and easy to play.
Hello everyone let me first state that I am a 27 yr old Gamer who specializes on fighting, adventure and Arcade games.
FusionFall is the first and only MMO I've played, because MMO's have never really appealed to me. However, the moment I saw the character re-design of Dexter(one of my favorite Cartoon-Network characters), I was compelled to play the game asap. I have been loving it since the beta. The music(especially the intro) is very enjoyable, the visuals are great, the game-play easy to get used to and overall experience is great!
The game used to make my computer crash several times and the loading time used to be terrible. However, it loads much more faster now and several issues that made my cpu crash have been fixed. I currently enjoy playing the game without issues!
Since I am an arcade gamer(a dying breed may I add), I get really bored with my games at home really quick and I either sell them or I completely forget that I own them within a couple of weeks. It has been a couple of months with FF and I still play it with the same interest I did since the first day.
what should i do i died on fusion fall and it keep on closing
this is stupid ass hell dumbest thing ever the lags way too much even though i bought a new pc.
The game is webbased, so it shouldn\\'t rely too much on your hardware. Have you looked at troubleshooting through the FusionFall community/website?
This game is awesome im on level 3 my name is escaperbeta
yo wats up.
hi im on lvl 4 my game name is crusher meganinja and i cant seem to get in the time machine HELP everytime i press warp to past they get me to the same area same time so HELP
This game is REALLY GAY, as i saw of the comments, those 1-line comments, mostly spelled incorrectly, are made by little kids. I, am in 8th grade. I dont know about trying this game, I just think World of Warcraft is WAY better than this game, Trial loads: 5 HR, F.F. 1-5 Mins: W.O.W. (dependant on cpu speed)
Fusion Fall is a game mainly aimed at kids and so it wouldn\\'t be surprising that kids would be among the commenters. The game has gotten good reviews from most people who have tried it. And since it\\'s free, why not try it before you bash it?
This game is like GAY. WoW is better then this crap. Even RUNESCAPE is better then this crap in runescape its much cheaper its like $4 and like fusion fall is $5! man people who play fusion fall is GAY and i just need to say"WHY THE HELL THIS GAME IS 5/5!! IT SHOULD BE -9999999/5.
Okay, I'm an avid MMORPG player who got a little bored and decided to try this game.
I must say, for a free MMO/Browser game aimed at children, I was pleasantly surprised.
The game does well what it aims to do; make you feel like a little kid again if you're older, and genuinely entertain you if you're younger. The addition of genuine voice acting from the characters really made a difference; I almost felt like I was in an episode of one of the shows from the network. The addition of Dexter as the main character definately brought back memories, and I could tell the simplistic quest system was meant to introduce children to basic MMO functions.
Gameplay wise, it's like someone took World of Warcraft, dumbed it down a little, and added a few annoying controls. The quest system is simplistic; very generic "go kill 4 of these," quests, but that's generally expected. Also, the weapon system was a little lacking, but then again; meant for kids. It was almost like playing a laggier version of Phantasy Star Online.
Graphics wise, this is probably one of the best looking browser based games I've played. I was a little surprised by the anime/cartoony look, but it actually worked out surprisingly well, and the cel-shaded components of the game didn't hurt either. I actually had a bit of trouble discerning NPC's from players at first. The environments are a little less pretty, but some decent water and texture effects in some areas caught my eye.
Fun is definately the catching part of the game. Although grinding is rediculously easy at lower levels, it never seems to get old or stale. The quests are mildly entertaining; indeed, the main draw is the storyline. It almost feels like a single-player game with online components.
Overall, I agree with the review (though personally, I would've given it a 4/5, though thats just my personal opinion)
ok i think its cool but again i dont play now it was slow and i cant get past the wall in this place and now i go game to game to find the right one for me right now wizard 101 has me
hi can you get me into the game ??????
LOL?????????????? don't put WoW to a kids game thats like putting call of duty to runescape wtf!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?! anyways its a kids game its not like there trying to take over mmo and if you think WoW is way better then just play it don't come to review pages and say this game is gay WoW is better >_> its not meant for u if your older then 14 and plus WoW is gay ~_~
Fantastic, awesome, briliant and really funny game
I just can't wait to see Red Guy from Cartoon Network "Cow & Chicken"! Yeah maybe game is created for kids, but I enjoyed this MMORPG 
im having the same problem
omg i try to teleport through the time machine and it doesent work!! plzz help
do you need to pay just to exceed to higher levels?
My son installed this game on my husband’s computer and it caused it to crash and never recover. We had to order a new PC. Then mine crashed. I got a new PC last night from Dell, it was working great and this morning my son installed the game on my new PC and it powered down and won’t turn back on. This game is breaking all our computers and costing us a lot of money.
i dont know if its just me but it took a long time to load and it lagged alot also i thought the fighting was to simple like hold down the mouse intill it did